"Isis am I, and from my life are fedAll showers and suns, all moons that wax and wane;All stars and streams, the living and the dead,The mystery of pleasure and of pain.I am the mother! — I the speaking sea!I am the earth and its fertility!Life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness, return to me —To me!Hathoor am I, and to my beauty drawnAll glories of the Universe bow down,The blossom and the mountain and the dawn,Fruit’s blush, and woman, our creation’s crown.I am the priest, the sacrifice, the shrine,I am the love and life of the divine!Life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness are surely mine —Are mine!

Venus am I, the love and light of earth,The wealth of kisses, the delight of tears,The barren pleasure never come to birth,The endless infinite desire of years.I am the shrine at which thy long desireDevoured thee with intolerable fire.I was song, music, passion, death, upon thy lyre —Thy lyre!

I am the Grail and I the Glory now:I am the flame and fuel of thy breast;I am the star of God upon thy brow;I am thy queen, enraptured and possessed.Hide thee, sweet river; welcome to the sea,Ocean of love that shall encompass thee!Life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness, return to me —To me!"

(the 'M' as most people know by now stands for Meirion, a Welsh name few can manage, so he writes as M J, is known by all and sundry as Mei, rhyming with 'my') has been writing for many years, with his first book - The Adventures of Inspector Lestrade - being published in 1984 by Macmillan. More Lestrades followed and then some true crime and somehow it all snowballed so now he has many historical biographies and two other crime series (Maxwell and Marlowe, the latter written with his wife, writing as Maryanne Coleman, though her name is Carol, actually!) to his credit. He claims to be retired, but that's just from teaching. In fact he has never been busier and is a sought after 'ghost' these days as well as historian and novelist, with many different subjects' stories having been told through him. He has recently started collaborating on fiction projects (with someone other than his wife, that is) and finds it a really exciting and pleasurable experience.